Relationships

Relationships. Everyone and almost everything has them. Relationships with people, animals, nature, the environment, and perhaps the most challenging of all—with the self. They begin early, before birth, and continue at some level until death do us part. They are impacted by the past, the present, and the future.

Some are of our own choosing. When we are fortunate, those relationships are nourishing, affirming, comfortable, exciting, and fun. We revel in them and miss the connection when we are apart. Others may be the result of accident or fate.

Still other relationships in our dance of human congress are thrust upon us. Some are difficult at best, and downright dysfunctional, deleterious, and even dangerous at worst.

The quality of our relationships are impacted by a myriad of factors, some of which are addressed in these Brain References. The beauty is that we can learn to develop relationships that are functional and rewarding, and we can learn to offer that quality of relationship both to ourselves and to others.